PRIME Minister (PM) Jeremiah Manele may have been misled on the status of sufferance wharves and Leroy wharf – a privately-owned and run facility in Solomon Islands, warning the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) could shut down our ports.
Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Solomon Port, William Barile, issued the warning in a number of articles he had published in the Solomon Star newspaper in recent weeks.
“Our Port Facilities in the Honiara Port Precinct is in serious danger of being pronounced contaminated for security and safety protocols. This act makes the structure (the Port) and the vessel (the ship) non-compliant.
“When in a few months IMO sends an ISPS Audit team, and we may be found non-compliant, the consequence will be drastic. We may be black listed, meaning no International Cargo Ships will call in at Honiara until the situation is sanitized and rectified.
“This is the consequence of a few foreign alliance forgers perpetrating self-serving business ‘competitive edging’. In ISPS code terms, these are Acts of Terror against the State of Solomon Islands,” Mr. Barile said.
“And all who assist and abet them will have trodden the footsteps of error.”
He said for this reason, those advising the Prime Minister must be well-grounded with the international rules and our own.
Mr. Barile said he raised these concerns because of his love for the country.
“To reiterate the quote from Martin Luther King Jnr; “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Solomon Islands is a party to the Conventions known as SOLAS – an acronym for safety at sea and ISPS code, the acronym for International Ships and Port Safety,
“It is clearly telling when they also by-passed the laws of Solomon Islands and the International Ships and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code of International Maritime Organization (IMO) when they off-loaded International Cargo at Goodwood Wharf at Ranadi.
“Their daring persistence in by-passing the laws and regulation of Solomon Islands has very serious consequences,” Mr. Barile said in his article titled, the Foot Prints of Error in our governance system.
It has been reported that in October they off loaded international cargo on three separate occasions, in November on one occasion and on the 27th December was their most recent.
“The Port Facility Security Officers (PFSOs) of both Leroy Wharf Port and SIPA took issue to question the Harbors Division of SIPA to ask who gave the authorizations to board the ships and to deliver them to anchorage off Goodwood Wharf.
“Their only reply was timid assertions from rank-and-file officers who alluded to instructions coming from the top but involving a former Chairman of the SIPA Board.
“This implies that Accountable Ministers may have known [of the] involvements. The truth of these assertions can only be verified by a proper investigation such as provided for in a Commission of Inquiry. Unnamed but obvious in the background are, the involvements of top notch foreign ‘alliance forgers.
“The seriousness of this act according to IMO protocols is that only ISPS Compliant Ports are allowed to receive International Ships and off-load international cargoes.
“Goodwood Wharf is not a compliant port. The mandatory maritime rule as stipulated by the code is for the Port Facility Security Officer (PFSO) and the International Ship Security Officer (SSO) must exchange signed ISPS Compliance Certificates as mutual agreement to interface with each other.
“The maritime vessel (ships, barges, pontoons) and the shore structure (wharves, jetties, dolphins, mooring buoys) together with their intermediary conveyances must be included in the Statement of Compliance of each vessel or shore structure.
Mr. Barile said given that Solomon Islands is a party to these conventions, the absence or breach of these stipulations leads to non-compliant interface.
By Alfred Sasako
